"That one's Fanzone." She pointed. "There's the mayor. The two of them put their heads together with my dad and, with a little diplomatic pull from Optimus, got me identity papers. For all my personas. The Fanzones still know. They and my bodyguards... and my Cybertronian contacts." The skin around her eyes crinkled as she smiled up at him.

She stopped beside one last neatly trimmed plot of grass. The graves around it were in disrepair, but the maintenance bots had been at work on this one.

"That's Dad."

For the second time in three days, Bumblebee held his peace for five cycles.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

"Prime was here," she said bravely. "I mean, he was Prime at the time. I mean, he was Magnus by then, but he'll always be Prime to me, you know? (I can't stop calling him that. He doesn't mind.) He was - such a good listener." She laughed painfully at the memories. "And Ratchet - though he'd probably deny it if you asked him now. I even saw Prowl, in a dream. He understood."

"Sari..."

She sagged against his leg, sniffling. "I missed you. So much."

He knelt to lay his hand on her shoulders and let her leak as long as she needed to. Sometimes, between fender-raising adventures, he'd been afraid that time would make everything different - and he hadn't known how much time. But time had compressed for him, hardening him like tempered cybertronium in a pressure furnace; while for her, time had stretched out into a long, endless sleep through which she walked dry-eyed. Until now.

She dried her eyes on her sleeve and dabbed apologetically at his paint. "Thanks, Bee."

He craned his neck, looking around the cemetery expectantly.

"What?" Sari craned her neck in turn. "What do you see?"

"I'm waiting for the wind."

"Come again?"

"You know, the wind. Every time there's a really emotional anime scene, the wind blows through the heroine's hair."

"Complete with flower petals that come from nowhere."

He pointed dramatically. "I see you watch Girls of Gahooziwhatzit too!"

She laughed. "That's not its name."

"Close enough." He tugged her braid. "You're not wearing your hair down. That's probably why."

He gave her shoulders a final pat and stood up.

"Here."

She was holding out the letter. "I'm sorry I was such a baby about it before. You can have it."

"Had a change of spark?" He smirked and bent to look her in the eye. Scars inflicted by some vicious clawed alien gleamed across his cheek. "Sari, I don't need a letter to know how you feel about me."

"Maybe I have had a change of spark and that's why I don't care if you do read the letter." She crossed her arms and sniffed.

"Oh, really? Then you won't mind if I read this aloud to everybody here. And some not here." He cleared his voice synthesizer. "Fanzone, you listening? Mayor, Sumdac? Prowl, you dig? 'The truth is that I -'"

"What? No! Don't tell them! I change my mind." She was as alarmed as though everyone mentioned was present in the flesh - and she did have the feeling that Prowl was watching, and chuckling. "Give it back!"

He scrambled onto the mayor's monument, out of her reach. "Make me."

She spread her hands. "Ohh, you are going to be sorry you said that."

Whatever he was going to say in return was forgotten. From his vantage point up on the monument, he had a better view of the cemetery, including the five or six newsbots trying to hide behind tombstones.

"Scrap! How long have they been listening? They'll eat me alive!" Sari had followed his line of sight. She broke into a run for the cemetery gate. "I need to get out of here!"

"Sari, wait!" Bumblebee jumped down after her. She skidded to a halt, ambushed by the swarm of newsbots that had been tucked behind the fence either side of the gate. She threw up her hands and flinched as a dozen photolights went off.

"Sari! This way!"

She jumped blindly for the sound of his voice. He scooped her up and tucked her against his side, a movement still hardwired into his servo memory. He sent a stinger blast into the offending swarm and heelwheeled down the cemetery path, carnations swirling in his wake. He jumped the fence opposite the gate and transformed in midair. Sari was strapped in and plastered against the back of her seat before she could rub the purple spots out of her vision.

"Faster!" she laughed. Outside the windows, Detroit became a blur, along with a mountain of CEO responsibilities. "Faster, faster!"

She threw her hands in the air when Bumblebee put on one of their mix tracks. Bumblebee let her roll down her window so she wouldn't blow her eardrums, much to the dismay of the nearby drivers.

"You gotta get current!" she screamed over the music. "This band has been off the air for centuries!"

"Then it's a classic!" Bumblebee screamed back.

"Just like your alt mode!"

"No dissing the ride! I held onto this alt mode across seven planets!"

Sari didn't turn a hair as Bumblebee performed a series of U-turns at speeds rivaling those of a bullet train. She gulped, though, as he turned beneath an underpass and up the inside slope. "What are you doing?"

"Showing off an upgrade." He hopped the vertical gap between the top and bottom inner surfaces of the underpass and magnetized his tires to the steel beams within the freeway above them. Sari's hair had come loose in the chaos. It swung free, tickling his roof, and gravity pressed her upside down against the seatbelt, but she didn't complain until the last of the newsbots had buzzed harmlessly below and disappeared.

"Every drop of blood I own is in my head."

Bumblebee swiveled his tires, calculating release trajectories. "You going to faint?"

"What? No! Are you kidding? That was the most fun I've had in years!"

"Well, you may want to in a minute." He tired of crunching numbers and transformed instead, landed off balance and collapsed on his back, catching Sari on his chest. She planted her hands on his face to keep herself from sliding off.

"I will not. Don't you remember our fact-finding mission to the roller coaster park? How many Hell Mountains did I ride?"

"Fifteen. Then you were so sick I had to take you home."

She laughed and patted his face. Her hand found the lines of his scar and traced them. The wind did come then, blowing her long hair into her eyes. It carried no petals, though; only bits of underpass litter. "I've been responsible for so long, I'd forgotten how much fun it is to blow everything off. Thanks. No way I'll pass out from a little upside down time."

"It's not that." He cleared his vocal synthesizer. "I dropped your letter at the cemetery."

She gaped. "For the newsbots to find?"

His grin had a touch of desperation about it. He considered finding the wormhole and jumping back in. "I hear Cybertron is nice this time of year. Want to come?"

"Bumblebeeeee!"

-the End

Author's Note: Reader reactions appreciated, as always.

Disclaimer: This story not created, acknowledged or endorsed by Hasbro/Takara, to whom all relevant characters and trademarks belong. No infringement is intended. Metal Sun itself is fan domain and may be freely recopied and archived.